I’ve got friends in the FBI and DEA (former military) and I’ve discussed this at length with them. They give the “courier” a receipt and the cartels look at it like a business. If they guy was trusted enough to give them a million dollars to lug around, they’re not indiscriminantly start lopping off heads.
And loyaly among the cartels is HIGHLY cultivated and rewarded. Guys don’t go out and get all tatted up with cartel slogans and signage if they think they’re gonna have to run some day. Sure, the traitors and thieves are executed, but that’s a GOOD leadership strategy. Otherwise, cartel leaders NEED loyal employees, especially given the amounts of cash they’re dealing with.
The Border Patrol Agents are on the line daily, encountering cartel smugglers and there is heck to pay if the smugglers lose a load, let alone a million in cash.
Smugglers, each toting 50-lbs of dope on their back, used to drop their load and run all the time. Now they fight more and run with the load on their back. Why? Because the cartels are tired of the drop-and-run at the first sign of the Border Patrol and this means the cartels started to kill smugglers for doing that. . .message sent and now the smugglers run with the pack and fight.